Camaraderie of Errors
by Ame Yumeko
Summary: If Nephrite had problems, they were small ones. If Ami had doubts about her friend's husband, she rarely voiced them. But with enough bad luck, a lot of small problems and doubts can become a huge mess...
1. Chapter 1

It was all the marker's fault, Ami would decide in hindsight. Of course, there had been other opportunities to avoid the disaster—if she had not panicked, perhaps, or if her friends had been more careful with the pizza, or if Jadeite had not been quite so drunk, or if Rei had kept an eye on him, or if Makoto had gone to the cleaner's that morning instead of Nephrite. If only, if only. But it was too late now. She was ruined.

"Hey Neph," Jadeite said in the too-friendly tone that meant he wanted something. "Can I borrow your car?"

Nephrite snorted. "Not if you're planning on racing Tenoh-san again. You still owe me for the repair, by the way."

"No, nothing like that. I'm just running downtown to rent a tux for this fancy dinner party Rei's dragging me to."

So he and Rei were back together again. Their "breakups" were almost a joke by this point. Nephrite sighed and dug the keys out of his pocket. "Don't make a habit of this."

Jadeite grinned and shrugged on his favorite jacket, the one he only wore when he was in a particularly good mood. "Thanks, man. Hey, sorry I can't make it to your guys' get-together tonight." He didn't sound sorry at all. It wasn't that he was thrilled about the dinner party, but at least that carried the perks of an open bar and Rei in a short cocktail dress.

Nephrite rolled his eyes, wishing he had an alibi himself. "Don't worry. You aren't missing much."

* * *

Kunzite was ready to leave fifteen minutes early. This was pointless of course, because he was going to pick up Minako, and she would be fifteen minutes late. But he was a man of principle, so he slipped on a light jacket and headed for the door.

"I'm taking off," he called to his roommates.

"See you later!" Zoisite answered.

"Mmhm," said Ami, her mind clearly elsewhere.

A loud crunch under his foot made him pause. Looking down, he saw that he had stepped on a marker. He barely glanced at it as he picked it up and set it on the coffee table.

And thus, the seed of mayhem was sown.

* * *

Nephrite yawned and leaned back against his ancient, rickety brown armchair, basking in the last rays of a glowing autumn sunset that shone through the living room window. The light sounds of Makoto humming and baking brownies filtered in from the kitchen. He closed his eyes and listened to her, feeling content.

The door swung open, and Jadeite breezed in with a tuxedo in one hand and a Denny's take-out box in the other. Juggling the items, he wriggled out of his jacket and laid it over the back of the couch. Outside on the street, a black convertible honked impatiently—Rei was panicking about being late.

"All right, already," Jadeite grumbled as he disappeared into the bathroom. He was out in record time, reeking of cologne, hair swept back in a style that was just pretentious enough to impress Rei's wealthy friends, without becoming too old-fashioned.

"Goodbye, Makoto-san! Enjoy your party," he called into the kitchen. Makoto cheerfully wished him the same, to which he muttered something sarcastic under his breath. The car horn blared once more, spurring him into a jog. "Smell ya later, Neph," he said over his shoulder on his way out the door.

"Hmph," was Nephrite's reply.

Only after Jadeite was gone did he allow himself to smile. Jadeite might be a freeloader and a pain in the neck at times, but he had a heart of gold, and Nephrite would be quick to set anyone straight who claimed otherwise. In their younger days, the two of them had constantly harassed one another, boasts and insults their usual mode of communication. For the most part that was still true now that they'd graduated from college and grudgingly accepted that someday they were going to have to at least pretend to grow up. But beneath their jibes lay a silent understanding of the bond they shared, a bond of duty and friendship that transcended time, a bond that would stand when the world fell around them.

Unlike the senshi, who had recovered their memories in a sudden, jarring rush the moment their princess awakened, Endymion's reincarnated guardians had grown into their past lives over time. Kunzite speculated that this was because their prince was more secure in his power than Serenity had been. The Golden Crystal, warm and steady as the sun, had melted the fog of amnesia at a comfortable pace. The gradual process had given them a chance to appreciate the friendship they had once had, even as they rebuilt it in this age. After three lifetimes, Nephrite finally began to grasp the value of that solidarity. Even when they had fallen into the pit of darkness that blotted out all sympathy toward the women they had once cared for and the planet to which they had sworn eternal allegiance, even when their loyalty to their own master had been tainted, the Shitennou had stood together. And though Nephrite would never admit it even in the silence of his deepest thoughts, he loved Jadeite, Kunzite, and Zoisite like brothers.

He brushed away the dark memories of the past. Though their history was something he valued greatly, it could also be depressing, and right now he was determined not to let anything disturb these few minutes of relative calm.

Instead, he focused on the present. His life, at the moment, was great. He had his own house and car, which in his opinion was all a person could ask for. He'd finally told his tightwad boss at the car repair shop to shove it, because tomorrow he was interviewing for his dream job, which he was positive he'd get—several other workers had assured him that he was the most qualified candidate. He'd already married his dream girl, two years ago next month.

Everything was perfect, except for one thing. He couldn't stand her friends.

The dumpling-headed eating machine had a certain lovable innocence that made it easier to overlook her numerous faults. And if Mamoru loved her (the two were away on their honeymoon at the moment) she couldn't be all that bad. Rei could be tolerable once one got past her misandry and passive-aggressive tendencies, but she was still picky and temperamental. Then there was Minako, the group's alternately ditzy and glamorous ringleader, who daily invented new and improved ways to irritate him. And then there was Ami. When he'd first met her, the worst he could say about her was that she was too shy. But then he'd overheard her telling Makoto that she thought he could benefit from an anger management seminar, even adding that he showed some warning signs of becoming abusive in the future.

"You heard that out of context. And anyway, you shouldn't have been eavesdropping on our conversation!" Makoto had told him when he'd confronted her about it later. The fact that she sided with Ami, that she always seemed to side with her friends over him, bothered him more than anything else. Even tonight, they had postponed the romantic dinner he'd planned for the two of them so they could get together with her friends and plan a surprise party for Ami. The young doctor was about to depart to deliver a two-month lecture series in various universities and hospitals across Europe, and the girls wanted to send her off in style.

As if on cue, the doorbell rang. Shrill above the melodic chime was Minako's obnoxiously cheerful greeting, "Hello Mako-chan, Nephrite-kun! We brought pizza!" By "we" she meant herself and Kunzite, and probably her feline companion Artemis as well. Nephrite wondered how the white cat could stand his partner. He seemed to be her total opposite in personality: fastidious, hard-working, mostly sensible, and just similar enough to Kunzite that the two were constantly at odds. Nephrite, on the other hand, would have found Artemis fairly easy to get along with… except that it was hard to get past the fact that he was a small, furry animal. Conversing with him as an equal felt somehow humiliating, no matter how intelligent he was.

Makoto opened the door and beckoned them in. A flash of white fur streaked across the top of the sofa and landed on the back of his armchair.

"Good evening, Shimeba-san," Artemis greeted him as he kneaded the cushion and made himself comfortable. Nephrite nodded stiffly in reply.

"Where's the remote?" Minako wanted to know. "The Olympics are on."

"Under the sofa, I think," Makoto told her. She emerged from the kitchen balancing three cans of beer, two teacups, and a saucer of milk.

Artemis licked his lips as she approached, purring his appreciation. Nephrite snagged two cans and held one out to Kunzite. He deftly popped the other open with one finger and swallowed half of it in one gulp. He had a feeling he'd be needing a few more before the night was over, especially when Zoisite showed up. The willowy, whimsical industrial designer had moments where he could grate on Nephrite's nerves just as well as Minako could. And it seemed the more time he spent around Ami, the more frequent those moments became.

Ami and Zoisite had met through Kunzite, who had been Zoisite's room mate since college. He had introduced them when Ami had mentioned that her team at the hospital was looking for a designer to help them develop a new kind of hearing aid. The two had spent about six months insisting that their relationship was strictly business (and fooling only themselves) before admitting their mutual attraction. Now, a year later, Minako, Makoto, and Jadeite were making bets on when they would get engaged. Rei had placed a bet too—she'd staked her money on "when Hell freezes over," and for once Nephrite hoped she was right.

"I still can't find it," Minako complained from under the sofa, where she was digging for the remote control. "I don't want to miss the women's volleyball finals."

Nephrite took the pizza from Kunzite and turned to help Makoto with the drinks. That proved to be his fatal mistake. He reached for the milk saucer, knowing Artemis would probably dig his claws into the chair in excitement if he had to wait much longer, but his fingers grazed the hot teapot, and he jerked back instinctively. The pizza slid halfway out of the box before he caught it awkwardly with his arm, spilling the rest of his beer in the process. Makoto skirted the couch to help him.

At exactly the wrong moment, Minako emerged triumphantly with the remote. "Found it- wah!" She broke off in a startled cry as Nephrite nearly stepped on her. He sidestepped to avoid her and slipped in the spilled beer. Makoto dropped her teacups. Artemis clawed the chair as he sprang to push Minako out of the way, and ended up getting squashed by Nephrite as the six-foot-three man fell on his face with a crash. The pizza sailed into the air in a graceful parabola, hovered there for a surreal moment, and then dropped to the floor, splattering all over the couch, the floor… and Jadeite's jacket.

Artemis groaned as he wriggled out from under Nephrite, and groaned again at the state of the room. For a few seconds, they all stared in mute horror at the mess. Then suddenly, Minako doubled over in a fit of giggles.

"What's so funny?" Nephrite snapped, spitting out cat hair.

"That was like a camaraderie of errors!" she blurted out.

Everyone else groaned.

"That's 'comedy of errors,' Mina," Artemis corrected, in the weary tone of one used to her idiomatic blunders. He bent to help Makoto and Kunzite scoop up the fallen pizza (or more precisely, to lick up some of the molten cheese. No sense in wasting it, after all.)

"Get it off the jacket," Nephrite insisted urgently. Without waiting for them to acknowledge, he shoved his way between them to put actions to words. He swore profusely as he saw the full extent of the damage.

Minako squinted at the garment, not quite understanding what all the fuss was about. "It's ugly anyway. Good riddance!"

"You don't understand," Nephrite growled as he gingerly lifted the sport coat, which was covered in tomato sauce. "This isn't just any jacket. It's _the_ Green Jacket."

Kunzite, Makoto, and Artemis did a double take. "What?" they exclaimed in unison.

Minako regarded him with a blank stare. When she and her friends talked about "the green jacket," they usually meant that pukeish olive abomination Mamoru-san had worn when he was at Moto Azabu. Jadeite's wasn't quite the same, though in her opinion it was almost as bad.

"You, know, the Masters Tournament?" Makoto prompted, searching Minako's wide azure eyes for some spark of understanding. Minako slowly shook her head no.

"The U.S. Masters is one of the four major professional golf tournaments. It's held every April in Augusta, Georgia in the United States," Kunzite explained, spouting off one of the many random bits of trivia garnered from hours spent in the library. Minako thought he was strange for reading encyclopedias like novels. On cold winter nights he loved to pluck a volume off the shelf, settle into an armchair in front of a roaring fire, and read it cover to cover. It was therapeutic, and occasionally useful. "Since 1949, a special green jacket has been given to the winner to wear for one year." He frowned thoughtfully, inspecting the jacket. "I think this one's a fake, though. The buttons are wrong."

"Jadeite changed them."

"Why in the world would he do that?" Makoto asked.

"So it wouldn't be recognized." Nephrite was beginning to regret telling them all this, knowing Jadeite would probably object, but it was too late.

Kunzite still looked doubtful. "The winner is supposed to return it to the club at the end of the year. Why would Jadeite have one here? And how in the world did he get it in the first place?"

"Because Jadeite's father, Watanabe Hiroshi, was the winner of the 2010 Masters."

"No way," Makoto breathed. "He never told us that."

Nephrite shrugged. "I'm not surprised. He doesn't talk about his past much."

"His past…" she repeated, suddenly understanding. "His father died?"

"Yeah. About a month after the tournament, he had a sudden heart attack. Jadeite was about nine at the time. They were supposed to give the jacket back, but his mother hid it, thinking she could sell it to pay for Jadeite's education. Jadeite didn't want her to. He said it would tarnish his father's memory to make a profit off of it like that. One of the many things they fought about." Nephrite shook his head, recalling many a screaming match he'd overheard between his quick-tempered friend and his equally stubborn and irritable mother. They were like Jadeite and Rei at their worst, except it was less comical and neither one secretly enjoyed it.

Artemis quirked an eyebrow. "Selling it for a profit would be bad... but stealing it from the club is perfectly fine?"

"Don't ask me to explain Jadeite's logic," Nephrite sighed. "But anyway, when he moved out for college, he took the jacket with him, and he's been hiding it from his mother ever since."

"Quite a story," said Kunzite with an appreciative nod.

Minako attempted to steer the conversation in a less depressing direction. "I never knew Jadeite was into golf."

"Oh, is he ever into golf. His family used to run a country club in Hiroshima, so he's been into it since he was a kid. Have you seen his room? Clubs and trophies everywhere, and a giant poster of Jumbo Ozaki."

"How anyone gets that excited over such a boring sport is beyond me," she sniggered.

In normal circumstances, Nephrite would have heartily agreed, but at that moment her nonchalance only made him angrier.

"That jacket is Jadeite's last memento of his father. He's going to kill me when he finds out what happened to it." He glared at her. "I'm so glad you find this entertaining."

Her injured expression pricked at his conscience, but the rational part of his brain that told him it wasn't her fault, that her flippant attitude was just her way of coping with stress, was quickly stifled by his mounting frustration. She didn't have to laugh at his misfortune.

He felt like punching something. A younger Nephrite would have. But he settled for stomping over to the sink to grab a wad of paper towels, and took out the remainder of his frustration on the stain that was seeping into the green cloth.

"Knowing Jadeite, he'll drink way too much at the party and stagger in half-conscious at two in the morning. If I were you, I'd take it to the cleaner's early tomorrow while he's still hung over," Makoto advised. "In the meantime, I know a good home remedy for removing tomato sauce."

Nephrite ran a hand through his hair and sighed, feeling suddenly guilty. It wasn't even his jacket, and in hindsight, the accident was mostly his fault. If she could keep a level head about it, so could he. That was what he admired most about her. Her anger was legendary, but so was her patience. He finished mopping up what he could of the mess and settled next to her on the dry end of the sofa, slipping an arm around her shoulders by force of habit. She and Kunzite were now debating whether club soda or WD-40 was better for tomato stains.

"Jadeite will never know," Minako reassured him. "You can do what I do and blame the cat if it leaves a stain."

"…Hey!" Artemis huffed, suddenly wondering how many other mishaps had been blamed on him.

Minako rose from her seat, determined not to let the jacket fiasco derail the true purpose of their gathering. "Anyway! The planning Ami-chan's goodbye party party will now come to order," she declared in a voice that commanded everyone's attention. Kunzite immediately stood up beside her. It was part reflex—even after six years, in his mind he could not fully separate Minako from her role as Venus, leader of the guardian senshi. Nor did he want to. Their opposition as leaders was a key dynamic in their relationship, by turns drawing them together and pitting them against one another. They stood for more than themselves. They were Yin and Yang. Dreams and Rationality. Extravagance and Restraint. Moon and Earth. Woman and Man. It was more of a friendly rivalry now that the lines were now drawn along gender rather than allegiance, but a rivalry nonetheless. So when she stood, he would stand as well to represent his men (even if one of those men was being fashionably late and the other had weaseled out of the meeting.)

Whatever his inner motivations, his presence at the head of the table was important. He represented the voice of reason, the voice that would prevent them from spending ten thousand yen on party poppers and inflatable palm trees like they had the time they'd put Minako in charge of New Year's. But for the most part, he was content to let her do the talking. This was her arena. She was in no-nonsense leader mode now, and she was not about to let Ami's last night be anything less than spectacular.


	2. Chapter 2

Jadeite's phone rang, and he scrambled to find it before Rei could notice that he had a cute, bouncy J-pop tune as his ring tone—in his rush to get out the door, he'd forgotten to change it to something less embarrassing. Unfortunately, his scrambling was impeded by his current state of intoxication, and it was several seconds before he managed to dig it out. He recognized the number as Nephrite's and answered. "Hey, man. 'Sup?" he slurred, in what Minako referred to as his "drunken surfer dude voice."

"Hey. Are you anywhere near a video rental?"

"Uh…" Jadeite pondered. "Maybe. Rei, babe, where are we?" he shouted, as if she were a block away instead of sitting right next to him in the driver's seat.

Silence.

"Ri-ight, you're not talking to me right now. I forget why." Even through the haze of alcohol, exasperation was clear in Jadeite's voice. Moments later he brightened. "Oh, hey, I know where we are. Roppongi! I love Roppongi. Back in college I knew a guy who used to live there. Folks owned a restaurant. Great meat pies. Except I was a vegetarian in college." Suddenly, Jadeite remembered that he was on the phone. "You want a meat pie, Neph?"

"No, I do not want a meat pie. I want you to pick up a movie for the party tomorrow."

"Sure thing. What kinda movie do you want?"

"The girls want to watch 'Otoko wa Tsurai yo.'"

There was a long pause on the other end of the line, and Nephrite began to wonder if his friend had fallen asleep. "Are you sure?" Jadeite croaked, disbelief in his voice.

"Yes," Nephrite said grumpily. "What, do you think I picked it?"

"Well, all right. See you in a little while."

Three hours, a case of beer, a half gallon of milk, and a pair of migraines later, Nephrite and Makoto managed to herd their visitors out the door. Makoto yawned, stretched until her back cracked, and collapsed onto the couch, looking as weary as he felt. "That Minako," she sighed, frustration mingling with fondness in her voice. "She never runs out of energy. Or appetite."

Nephrite scowled. "She ate my entire stash of barbecue chips."

"Those things are bad for you, anyway," Makoto said, wrinkling her nose. She glanced at the clock. "Jadeite's awfully late."

"Yeah. And thoroughly besotted, as usual. He kept rambling on about meat pies on the phone."

"At least he's a happy drunk."

"Yeah," Nephrite half-laughed, half-grunted. "Better than my old man." His lips tightened in a rueful smile, and he turned away from her. The thought of his father, his wooden, cruel, deaf, stumbling father, his broken, weak, apologetic father, brought all the bitterness inside him rushing to the surface. And there it found an easy target. "It's no wonder Mizuno-san thinks I'll become a wife-beater, considering my family history."

"Stop it," Makoto said. She knew where this was going, and it usually ended with one of them sleeping on the couch.

"Setting aside the fact that she's not a psychiatrist, and that she made this _expert_ analysis a scant day after our first date…"

"Neph, please. I don't need this right now." Beneath her grumpiness was a note of pleading.

He jerked his head around, anger twisting his features. She knew him well enough to know it was not directed at her, but it made her cringe nonetheless. "Maybe you should be afraid of me. Hell, I've half turned into my father already! Quitting my job for no reason, drinking myself stupid to avoid dealing with your friends…" He gestured toward the pile of empty beer cans for emphasis.

She crossed the room in quick strides and caught him by the shoulders, forcing him to look her in the eye. He didn't put up much of a struggle. No matter how dark a mood he was in, those verdant orbs drew him in, warm and cool at once like dappled sunlight in a forest. She held onto his arms until she felt him relax. "I will never be afraid of you," she said.

He took a deep breath and let his head tilt down to touch her forehead to his. "I know."

A spasm of relieved laughter shook her, and he realized for the first time how tense she had been. She reached up to run her fingers through his wavy hair. "You're going to get the job," she assured him, and she sounded so confident that in that moment he believed her. "And you are not an alcoholic. Zoisite drank more than you."

He managed a smile. She leaned against his chest, suddenly overcome with tiredness. Adding to her exhaustion was the knowledge that she would be incredibly busy come morning. Minako was great at planning, and Rei was paying for everything, but Makoto knew when it came down to it she was going to be doing most of the actual labor. She and Nephrite were hosting as usual, and that meant they would be doing all the setting up, cleaning up, cooking, and apologizing to the neighbors afterward.

"Come to bed," she said. "We've both got a big day tomorrow."

Hovering just out of sight in the hallway, Zoisite watched Ami review her packing checklist one more time. She had been through it twice last night, but she hadn't been very focused thanks to him. A weaselly grin crept over his face as he silently congratulated himself. He excelled at distraction.

Ami folded one more extra pair of socks, tucked them into her suitcase, and admired her handiwork. Good. All she had left to do was take a video of her lecture up to the university. This trip to Europe had unfortunately fallen right in the middle of the semester, but Ami was not about to leave her students without a professor, so she had recorded the next month's worth of lessons in advance. They were a bright, dedicated bunch, and she knew her assistant could field any questions they might have. She would still worry, of course, but in the worst case she was only a phone call away. Technology was wonderful that way.

She reached for a marker to label the disc.

Moments later, Ami's startled cry brought Zoisite running. He stopped short on the threshold of the living room, unsure whether to groan in dismay or break out laughing. She sat on her knees in the middle of the room, arms out from her sides, hands twitching in small frantic motions. Blue ink had sprayed all over the front of her shirt and speckled the clothes in her suitcase. Her hands and face were covered with the stuff, and her attempts to wipe it off her glasses only made matters worse.

"I-I just… all I did was take off the cap and it… I can't see… help!" she finished pathetically. Zoisite felt a rush of warm fuzziness at being needed, followed by a small prickle of guilt at enjoying her distress. He scooped her up bridal style and carried her to the bathroom.

"Oh no! It got all over the suitcase!" Ami cried.

"I'll take your things over to the coin laundry across the street. But first, let's get you cleaned up. Here, I'll help."

She protested. He persisted. And she got distracted again.

Nephrite's weathered hands pressed an orange down over the juicer. He squeezed every drop of sweet liquid out of the fruit and tossed the peel into the sink, licking his fingers afterward.

"Jadeite didn't come home last night, did he?" Makoto said, glancing at the door with a worried frown.

Nephrite smirked. "I knew he and Rei were back together, but I didn't know they were _that_ back together."

"I just hope they're safe. They could be lying in a ditch somewhere," she pointed out.

"Well, wherever he is, he'd better have my car back by noon."

Makoto glanced at the clock. "Then you'd better get that jacket to the cleaner's before noon."

Nephrite downed his glass of juice and sighed. "I'm heading over right after breakfast."

Ami sat at a table in the coin laundry, drumming her fingers impatiently on the linoleum as she watched her clothes tumbling behind the dryer's circular window. Zoisite had no business complaining. She had tried to stop him. It was his own fault that he'd gotten ink all over his clothes. And his hair. And his… well anyway, he wasn't the one about to leave on an international journey!

She forced herself to take a deep, cleansing breath and think positive thoughts. The stains would come out. There would be no need to find a new lab coat or reschedule her flight. In a few hours everything would be back on track, and would stay that way, because she was well prepared for this trip.

She had nearly convinced herself when a rich baritone intruded on her thoughts. "Mizuno-san. Fancy meeting you here."

Closing her eyes, Ami steeled herself for what she knew would be a thinly-veiled confrontation. It figured that at the third most stressful time of her life (first place was that whole Mercurius incident, and second was pre-allocated for the rise of Crystal Tokyo), she was confronted with the one person who put her on edge more than Zoisite.

"Hello, Shimeba-san. How are you?"

"The usual." Nephrite leaned against the wall with an air of casual elegance. In spite of herself, Ami felt a tiny bit jealous of his natural confidence. Self-assurance was something she'd had to learn over the years, and there were days when it was still a conscious effort. Nephrite, on the other hand, always seemed to think he was the center of the universe, though Makoto said otherwise.

"There's a side of him you don't see," Makoto had told her when she'd mentioned it in passing. The way that she made excuses for Nephrite, the way that all her friends seemed to get defensive when she made honest observations about their significant others, bothered her more than anything. But she trusted their judgment enough not to make a scene about it.

"How is Mako-chan?" she asked in an effort to make polite conversation. Immediately she kicked herself for bringing up the very subject that caused most of the friction between them.

"She's doing well. We're doing well," he replied, with an edge of defiance in his voice as if he'd proven her wrong about something.

"That's good."

Awkward silence.

The dryer buzzed, and she bent to pull out her clothes. "So, what brings you here so early in the morning?" she asked as she started to match up stray socks.

"An unfortunate mishap," he said with a scowl. She had to remind herself that he wasn't angry with her, he just didn't mask his emotions—another of his habits that set her on edge.

"Me too, actually."

"Oh?"

Ami summed up the incident in one word. "Ink."

She wondered if he would explain what had happened to him, but he went back to staring into the washing machine with the same stormy expression. She was not inclined to seek trouble when there was none, so she finished folding in silence. It was a relief when his phone rang and turned his attention elsewhere.

Nephrite grinned as he answered. "Jadeite, you sly old dog. You spent the night at Rei's." Ami froze mid-fold, listening intently.

Jadeite laughed nervously. "Yeah, about that…"

"What?" Nephrite prompted when he wavered.

Ami shook her head and forced herself to focus on her clothes. It wasn't polite to eavesdrop, and anyway, she knew she'd be getting the whole story from Minako later. For all her complaints about the Paparazzi, the young talk show hostess shared a similar appetite for scandal, and Rei's spending the night with her ex-ex-boyfriend would never pass under her radar.

"I left your car keys at home when I came back to get dressed, so I couldn't drive back. It was so late that Rei's grandfather insisted I stay the night," Jadeite explained. "Which means your car's stuck here."

Nephrite rolled his eyes. He should have known it was something like that. "Fine, I'll take a bus up to get it. Where did you leave the keys?"

"They're in my jacket pocket."

Nephrite's shoulders sank as he stared at the swirling suds of the washing machine, and the neat line of warning text printed above the latch: "Door cannot be opened once cycle has started."

"Nephrite? You there?"

"I… have to go," Nephrite said numbly, and hung up before Jadeite could reply.

As Ami had predicted, Minako was at that moment pressing Makoto for information. Today was Thursday, and the two had a tradition of meeting for breakfast before Makoto opened her flower stand in the park. Sipping her tea and listening to her friend chattering happily about her latest celebrity guest, Makoto was amazed at how her voice could be a shrill harbinger of headaches one day and a cheerful balm the next. Right now, she felt content simply basking in her overflowing enthusiasm. It was almost the same feeling she got around Usagi, except with a little more dramatic flair and a lot less naivety.

Minako leaned forward and rested her chin on the back of her hands. Lowering her voice in a conspiratorial whisper, she asked, "So, did Jadeite really stay at Rei's last night?"

"Yeah. I think so," Makoto said, reminding herself never to underestimate Minako's rumor network. She was quick to add, "probably because he was too drunk to drive home."

Minako's sapphire eyes narrowed mischievously. "Maybe and maybe not, but you can bet I'll be dragging the details out of Rei-chan later."

Makoto felt sorry for Rei. They had all come to dread Minako's post-date interrogations.

"I wonder when they're gonna get serious," Minako pondered.

"Honestly, I don't know if they ever will." Makoto felt bad for saying it, but it was true. Maybe both of them enjoyed the rocky ride, the thrill of the chase, more than sharing a lasting relationship.

"Hmm. I'm not sure yet," Minako said. "There won't be any progress the way things are now."

"Progress?" Makoto repeated dubiously.

"With couples like them, something has to snap first. They've got all this tension building." She illustrated by wiggling her fingers menacingly at one another. "And because both of them are so stubborn, it's just going to keep growing, until all of a sudden it breaks loose, like… like…"

"A bolt of lightning?" Makoto offered.

"Yes! Exactly! And after that, they're in balance."

"Let's just hope we're not around when it strikes," Makoto said with a shudder. They both laughed.

"So anyway. For Ami's party, I had this great idea for decorations. We'll get an inflatable airplane—"

"No."

"Come on! You haven't even heard it yet."

"No. You are not bringing an airplane into my house. Even a rubber one."

"Hear me out!"

"I still remember New Year's."

"Aww, come on…"

As fate would have it, the road Minako took home after breakfast brought her strolling around the corner just as a harried Nephrite burst out of the coin laundry. She waved at him, and for once, he looked excited to see her.

"Aino-san!" he exclaimed, his usual dread at talking to her overridden by the urgency of his predicament. "Listen, I need a favor," he said before she could launch into some elaborate story about whatever was going on in her life at the moment.

For a moment, she seemed taken aback at his abruptness, but she shrugged and agreed, "Okay! What?"

"In there," he said, pointing back toward the coin laundry, "is Jadeite's jacket. In about ten minutes I need you to get it out, dry it, and take it back to my place."

She gulped as the realization dawned on her. "That's right… he still has your car!"

"And I've got an interview at noon. It's a quick trip down the freeway, but it's forty minutes by bus."

"Man, you're screwed."

"You're telling me," he grumbled. "You've got the jacket, then?"

"Don't worry, don't worry. I'll take care of it," she assured him. "Trust me!"

"Thanks," he said. Then he was off down the street toward the bus station. Minako waved at him until he was out of sight.

It was approximately two seconds after that when she realized her grave mistake. She had a hair appointment in ten minutes, and there was no way she was rescheduling. Her stylist was the only one in the city who knew how to do her hair right, and he was booked solid for the next three weeks.

"No worries," she hummed to herself, whipping out her phone. "That's what friends are for!"

As Ami stepped out of the laundry room, teetering under a pile of freshly folded clothes, a male figure crashed into her. Both of them stumbled and dropped everything they were carrying.

"I'm sorry!" she apologized.

"My fault, totally," a familiar voice said.

Ami looked up and smiled. "Jadeite-san." Dusting herself off with one hand, she reached for the disc she'd dropped, just as Rei came running from the parking lot.

"You guys all right?"

"Oh, hello Rei-chan. Yes, we're fine."

Jadeite handed her the DVD. "Is this yours?"

"Ah, yes, thank you." With all the commotion she had forgotten to label it again, she noticed. She would have to take care of that later.

Rei and Jadeite helped Ami collect her laundry, which thankfully hadn't gotten too dirty. After a few minutes of small talk, Ami told them she'd better be on her way.

"All right. See you toni—" Jadeite began, before a sharp nudge from Rei reminded him that the party was supposed to be a surprise. "See you later," he amended. He turned to go.

An impulse seized her. "Jadeite-san. I know you and Shimeba-san are close. I was wondering."

"Yes?"

She hesitated, then shook her head. "Oh, never mind. Have a nice day!"

He watched with a puzzled face as she left, then shook his head and followed Rei inside. "So, what are we here for?" he asked.

"I'm not sure. Minako wanted me to pick up some kind of jacket…"


	3. Chapter 3

Deflated was the best way to describe Nephrite's mood as he staggered off the bus. He had no anger left, and in its place, a cold numbness had settled in. He'd sprinted almost a mile to the bus station only to miss the bus by one minute, caught a taxi instead, gotten out early and sprinted again when they got stuck in traffic, and finally staggered in to his interview five minutes late, only to be told by the prim, uppity secretary at the front desk that he would not be considered for the position, since he could not bother to show up on time, thank-you-and-good-day. He still couldn't quite believe it. Perhaps he was dreaming, and any second he would wake up to discover that the whole disaster was just his digestive system's way of punishing him for that last slice of pizza. (Yes, they had still eaten it. They were not so far out of college as to have lost that instinct.)

And then he crossed the street and was confronted with the one thing that could possibly make his day worse. A fuming Jadeite faced him, so angry that he couldn't even speak. Baring his teeth in a beastly snarl, he thrust something into Nephrite's face. It took Nephrite a few seconds to realize it was the green jacket, shrunk to toddler size. Behind him was Rei, looking perfectly calm, which probably meant she was about to tear someone's head off.

"It's not enough that you stained it and then tried to cover it up," Jadeite hissed. His voice rose to a shout, and he shook the jacket in Nephrite's face. "You couldn't even bother to notice that it's supposed to be dry clean only! Look at this! Look at it! It's ruined!"

"For goodness' sake, Jadeite. It's not like you can't afford another jacket," Rei chastised mildly. Her gentle tone actually made Nephrite jump, he had been so certain she would react with violence. Toward whom he wasn't sure. But she had seemed to him the sort who would get angry first and ask questions later. It occurred to him that he didn't really know her very well.

Jadeite was in no mood to be scolded. "Shut up, Rei! You don't understand!"

She recoiled as if she'd been slapped. As often as they bickered, it was rare for him to be that blunt with her. "It was an accident!" she protested. "You don't have to get so worked up—"

Nephrite stopped her. "No. He has every right to be angry." He looked Jadeite in the eye, swallowing all his pride. "I'm sorry," he said earnestly. "I will make this up to you."

"Don't talk to me right now," Jadeite snapped, turning his back on them.

Nephrite said nothing more, but left him standing there. Rei stared after him in bewilderment. Until that moment, she'd seen Nephrite as a hot-tempered, egotistical man-child who would never admit that he'd made a mistake, let alone apologize. Until that moment, he had given her no reason to doubt that assessment.

She whirled indignantly to face Jadeite. "What is your problem?" she exclaimed.

"What part of 'don't talk to me' didn't you understand?" he growled, barely suppressing the tremor in his voice.

He heard her sharp intake of breath, sensed her tense moment of fury, her trembling frustration. And then, the cold sound of her heels hurrying away from him.

He turned around, but all he caught was a flutter of coal-black hair as she disappeared down a side street.

~*~

Minako lounged on Makoto's couch with one leg dangling over the side, watching a broadcast of the epic clash of two European polo teams. It was not until Makoto spoke up to ask why in the world they cared about this that she realized she found it about as interesting as watching Kunzite write his thesis paper. (And she'd been doing enough of that lately. "Just one more paragraph," he'd say, "and then we'll get dinner." The problem was that he tended to write three-page-long paragraphs.) She yawned and changed the channel.

"You remembered Jadeite's jacket, right?" Makoto asked.

"Oh yeah. I had Rei-chan go pick it up for me. She said she'd bring it by later."

Makoto nearly fainted. "Mina! Rei doesn't know we're trying to hide the jacket from Jadeite! And he's still with her!"

Minako said four curse words in three languages and pronounced none of them correctly. "Okay… okay. I'm going to follow them."

The door flew open with a bang, and Nephrite entered, glowering at her. "Too late."

~*~

"Just what don't I understand?" Rei asked. Her voice, if cooler than before, was no less agitated.

After giving herself a while to calm down, she'd started to regret walking out on Jadeite. It was obvious he was keeping something from her, and she intended to find out what. The time it took to track him down had been more than enough to make her irritated again. She had finally found him in the park, sitting on the swing set with his back to her. The sight of his large feet dragging on the ground and the boyish way he clutched the chains almost made her smile in spite of everything. Almost.

He glanced up around her, then made a point of turning away. "Does it matter?" he asked petulantly.

She came around in front of him, refusing to let him get away that easily. "That you completely overreacted? That you were a jerk to me? That your friend tried to apologize to you and you flung it in his face?" Her voice was ever so calm as she listed his iniquities. "Yes, it matters."

"All right, I'm sorry," he mumbled, not very convincingly. He got up from the swing and moved away to avoid facing her, but she pursued him.

"I don't want an apology! I want to know why you blew up over such a little thing."

Jadeite turned to look at her, and she was startled at the pain in his eyes. "My father…" he began, but trailed off.

"What?" she asked with bated breath. He'd never told her anything about his family before. Did he have problems with his father too?

He brushed past her. "Forget it. It's not important," he muttered.

Rei threw up her hands in frustration. "Would you just _talk_ to me for once?"

"Oh, that's rich, coming from an emotionally-challenged ice princess," he shot back. "I'm not allowed to have secrets, but when I want to talk about your past, it's none of my business."

"This is different. I'm worried about you, damn it!"

"But when I'm worried about you, it's because I'm a chauvinist pig who thinks you can't take care of yourself!"

"I never called you a pig!"

"You imply it—"

"Oh, please! Just because I'm independent—"

"You imply it every time you get angry at me for suggesting that you can rely on me."

"Stop making this about me."

"Why not? It's always about you!" His voice rose, cutting her off as she tried to interrupt. "Because you always have to have this relationship on your terms. You think you're some kind of goddess? You think I'm going to just fall at your feet and worship you?"

"I didn't ask you to worship me, I asked you to talk to me!"

"There is nothing we need to talk about!" he bellowed. She flinched and backed away from him.

There was a brief, tense silence.

"Fine," Rei hissed. "You're right, Jadeite. I don't understand you."

Again he turned too late, and only caught a glimpse of her as she walked away.

~*~

"Ooh," Minako said with an empathetic wince after Nephrite had recounted his run-in with Jadeite. "Well, that sucks."

"Where is he now?" Makoto asked, concerned.

"I don't know. I was hoping he'd be here."

Minako shook her head. "We haven't seen him since yesterday."

"Well," Makoto said after some consideration, "it might be better to leave him be for now. Let him blow off some steam."

Nephrite sighed wearily and sagged into his armchair. "Nothing else to do, since he won't talk to me."

"So… how was your interview?" Makoto asked, trying to change the subject.

Nephrite gave her a mournful look, then went back to staring at his feet.

"That good, eh?" Minako said.

"They wouldn't even let me in because I was five minutes late."

"What?" the two women exclaimed in unison.

"That's crazy!" Minako scoffed. "I say it's a good thing you didn't get the job," she added, laughing. "Who'd want to work for a bunch of assholes like that?"

Once again, it was her carefree attitude that set him off. "That's easy to say for someone who never plans her life more than ten minutes in advance!" he snapped. "Success just fell into your lap. You make more money than I'll ever see in my life by sitting around schmoozing with celebrities every morning! You don't know what it's like to worry about the future!"

He got up, not waiting for her flippant retort, not waiting for her and Makoto to ally against him, and stalked out the door.

"Sheesh," Minako snorted. "I can see why Ami thinks he's got anger issues."

It was clear that Makoto did not take kindly to her comment. "You're both at fault," she declared.

Minako tilted her head down and looked up at her, as if peering over an imaginary pair of sunglasses. "Hmm?" she asked innocently, but Makoto wasn't buying it.

"He's being ridiculous, taking his anger out on you," she said. "And he had no right to say those things. But you, Aino Minako, are not stupid. You know he's stressed, and you know him well enough to know he was in no mood for jokes."

Minako chewed on her lip, looking slightly ashamed. "It's not my fault he's jealous of me." She shrank under the look Makoto gave her. "What?"

"Can't you be a little bit more sensitive? Neph might act like a tough guy, but at times like this he really needs his friends to support him."

Minako fiddled with the remote as an excuse not to look at her. "His friend, hmm? I never thought of it that way before."

"You were a bridesmaid at our wedding."

"That was because I'm _your_ friend." At Makoto's crestfallen look, she conceded, "But if only for that, I'll try to make peace with your husband."

Makoto figured she could be satisfied with that, at least for now.

~*~

Nephrite slumped against a telephone pole, weighed down by guilt and the knowledge that soon he was going to have to head home for the party and humble himself once again. He knew everything he'd said about Minako was wrong. He'd known it even as he was saying it. True, she'd gotten a lucky break, but she had worked her whole life to be an actress. And the leader of the sailor senshi, of all people, knew what it was like to worry about the future. Something told him he would definitely be sleeping on the couch this time. But maybe he could redeem himself a little by bringing Jadeite back with him.

When Jadeite wanted to sulk, he went to either the park, the bar, or his room, depending on exactly how depressed he was. Nephrite set out fully intending to check the nearest bar, since he could use a drink or two himself. But for some reason, his feet carried him to the Hikawa shrine instead.

He didn't fully realize where he was until he was halfway up the stone steps to the torii gate. Then his first impulse was to get out of there as fast as possible, but Rei's grandfather had already spotted him. The short, mustached man set down his rake and hurried to welcome him.

"Sir," Nephrite said with a respectful bow.

Rei's grandfather greeted him less formally, with a warm smile and a hearty slap on the shoulder. "It's been a while, Shimeba-san. Have you come to pray?" He led Nephrite inside.

"Actually, I was just passing by and thought I'd stop in for a visit."

The old priest's bushy eyebrows arched in surprise. "If you're looking for Rei, she's in the fire room," he said in hushed tones, "but I don't think she's in any kind of mood for visitors…"

Through a crack in the door, Nephrite spotted Rei kneeling in front of the fire, shrouded by her hair that flowed down to the tatami floor like streams of ink. Suddenly, every instinct told him this was a bad idea. But Rei heard them and said, "No, it's all right. Come on in."

"Well, I just remembered something I have to do. Nice seeing you, Shimeba-san," Rei's grandfather took his leave, conveniently abandoning him.

Nephrite coughed into his sleeve and nudged the screen door open just wide enough to slip through sideways. In this place, especially around Rei, he always tried to touch as little as possible. She did not turn to look at him, but he felt like she sensed every movement, every thought, every weakness in him. He wondered if it was all in his head, because he knew she was a psychic, or if his own latent spiritual senses were reacting to hers.

He found his voice. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"Not at all," she said. She indicated a pillow across from her. "Please, have a seat." He obliged hesitantly, and only then did she lift her eyes to transfix him with her intense violet gaze. "So, what brings you here?"

"I don't know," he replied honestly. He found it impossible to be dishonest when she stared at him like that. "I just came without thinking."

"Sometimes the things we do without thinking reveal the most," Rei said, sounding infinitely wise and sublime.

He shifted, trying to calm his nerves. For a little while, the soft crackling of the fire was the only sound in the room. Abruptly, he blurted out, "You actually cried."

There was a guilty pause. "What do you mean?" Rei asked.

He swallowed hard. "I saw you run away after Jadeite snapped at us. You were crying."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she insisted, knowing he wouldn't be convinced. She didn't like being on the defensive like this.

"I didn't know you cared about him that much."

That caught her off guard. "You think I put up with this crap for fun?" She checked herself. "That is, I…" She shook her hair out haughtily and took a deep breath. For some reason, she found it hard to be dishonest with him. "Yes, I do," she declared.

"I thought you were just toying with him," he said without thinking. Now she looked hurt. "I mean, that was just my first impression of you. No, that's not what I mean..." He floundered, marveling at his remarkable talent for saying exactly the wrong thing. "Look, it was nothing personal. I just didn't know you very well, and…"

"And you wanted to protect your best friend." Rei gave him a long, searching stare, waiting for him to understand.

He felt a jolt, his deep-rooted resentment cracking at its foundations, as the ugly realization dawned on him. "I do it too."

He was the same as Ami.

He wondered if she had set him up deliberately, if this whole conversation had been a ruse. But then she said, "I want you to answer something honestly for me, because my friends are biased. Do you think I'm good enough for him?"

She seemed as surprised as he at her blatant revelation of her insecurity. Perhaps they had found empathy for one another, two proud and sensitive spirits trying to be strong. More likely it was a sort of unspoken mutual blackmail, since they had both spilled their guts already. But whatever the reason, both understood that whatever they said here would not leave this room.

"He's not the kind of person who would worry about whether you're good enough," Nephrite told her.

"No, he wouldn't. But I do."

Add that to the growing list of things he'd never expected Hino Rei to say.

"Back when we were first dating, I told Makoto I wasn't good enough for her," he recalled. "And she said to me, 'Nephrite, stop trying to be good enough for me, and just be good to me.' As long as you're trying to prove yourself, to yourself or him or anyone, you won't be able to love fully."

Rei was silent for a long time, mulling over his words. When she spoke again it startled him. "My head feels clearer. I think I can pray now."

"If you don't mind my asking, what were you trying to pray for?" Nephrite queried.

"For courage."

"Courage for what?"

She looked away for a moment, eyes lost in the flames. "To apologize," she said at length. "I still think he was wrong," she added quickly, her chin lifting in defiance, "but a lot of what he said was true." She looked back at him, the beginnings of a smile stirring on her lips. "Maybe it was fortunate that you ruined his jacket. We needed to get all this out in the open."

"Fortunate," he repeated with dry sarcasm. "Now you sound like Aino-san."

"Minako is always looking on the bright side because she doesn't want to get weighed down by pessimism. She found out at age thirteen that her destiny was written for her, that one day she's going to have to abandon all her dreams to serve as the chief guardian of a planetary Utopia. Now she's trying to fit an entire life's worth of ambition into the three-odd years she has between college and the end of the world as we know it. All of us are, but I think it's hit her the hardest, because she loves life so much."

"You're pretty good at reading people," he observed. She smiled softly, and a slight blush rose to her cheeks. It was the finest compliment she'd been paid in a long time.

"I have to go," he said. "I need to find Jadeite before the party."

"All right, I'll see you there." She rose to escort him to the door, and there she paused, looking up at him as if seeing him for the first time. "I was wrong about you," she admitted.

"You didn't know me very well," he reasoned.

She smiled. "I think that could change."

~*~

As it turned out, Nephrite's search wasn't very long. Jadeite met him a block from the shrine.

"Hey," was the blond man's greeting.

"Hey," Nephrite replied.

"I realized that I still had your keys," Jadeite said, holding them out stiffly. Nephrite pocketed them without a word, and they spent a few seconds assessing one another.

Jadeite cracked first. "I was a jerk earlier."

"Don't worry. I'm used to it."

"You're a pompous ass, you know that?"

"You're used to it."

Jadeite rubbed his hands together the way he always did when he was uneasy. "So. We're cool, then?"

"Yeah."

Jadeite brightened. "Great! Then can I have a ride home?"

Nephrite pretended to look put upon. "Once a mooch, always a mooch," he muttered. They climbed into the car and drove back to their house.

~*~

The party was already in full swing. Ami's mother and most of her friends from the university were there. Minako and Artemis were glued to the television, cheering for their favorite Olympic athletes. Zoisite and Kunzite were listening as Makoto explained the distinctive brewing process of Lambic beer to a fascinated crowd. Only Rei and the guest of honor had not yet arrived.

"Did you get the movie?" Nephrite asked as they went inside.

"Oh, right," Jadeite said, reaching into his pocket to pull out an unmarked disc in a black plastic sleeve. Nephrite eyed it quizzically. "They didn't have it at the video store, so I borrowed a copy from an old pal of mine. And by 'borrowed' I mean 'pirated,' so we can keep it."

"They didn't have it? But it's a classic."

Jadeite smirked. "To audiences of a certain persuasion, I suppose."

"Well, it's certainly not my persuasion," Nephrite grumbled. "Ironic. The series is called 'It's Hard to be a Man,' and a bunch of women are forcing me to watch it."

Jadeite's smile vanished. "Wait… You said Otoko wa Tsurai Yo? I thought you said Johnen, Sada no Ai!"

Nephrite blanched. He seized Jadeite by the arm and dragged him into the back room.

"You've got to be kidding me!" he exploded when they were out of earshot. "You honestly thought Mako-chan and Aino-san would pick a porn flick for Mizuno-san's going-away party?"

"Well, that's why I asked you twice! And it's not pornography, it's an erotic historical drama."

"Jadeite, the woman gets hives just from reading love letters! And how can you possibly say it's not pornography? It stars Sugimoto Aya, that ought to tell you enough."

"It's not my fault you don't know how to enunciate. And stop trying to have two arguments at once."

Nephrite opted to drop the is-it-porn debate for the more pressing issue. "Oh, so I suppose the fact that you were falling-down drunk had nothing to do with it."

Jadeite grumbled and looked away sheepishly.

Nephrite sighed and began pacing in small circles. "Okay, we'll just hide it and tell them you couldn't find it at the rental shop. Rei will confirm your alibi."

"I already told Minako I had it."

"Well, tell her you accidentally recorded over it with one of your boring golf tournaments."

Jadeite scowled. "You can't record over this kind of DVD, moron. And golf is quite exciting to anyone sophisticated enough to understand—"

"You're doing it again!" Nephrite cut him off. "One argument at a time!"

Jadeite smiled and waved at a few of Ami's coworkers who were staring at them. He lowered his voice again. "All right… we'll tell them you scratched it or something. Anything as long as they don't get their hands on it, because I have a feeling the women are going to share your opinion on its particular themes." A well-timed twitch of his mouth showed what he thought of their scruples.

At exactly the wrong moment, Makoto popped her head into the room. "Are you guys all right?"

Jadeite whipped the DVD behind his back and gave her a blindingly sunny smile. "Yup. We're pals again." For emphasis, he slung an arm around Nephrite's shoulders.

Being so casually embraced by another man, even his best friend, was enough to make Nephrite uneasy. So when Jadeite covertly slipped the DVD into his back pocket and accidentally grabbed his butt in the process, it took all the self-control he had not to deck him. Zoisite and Kunzite might be fine with that kind of… touching, but Nephrite was a firm believer in personal space.

"Sorry," Jadeite whispered as they headed out to join the party.

"I'll kill you," Nephrite muttered back.

Makoto smiled. "Glad to see you two are back to normal."


	4. Chapter 4

After the chaos of the preceding two days, the party itself was blissfully uneventful. Ami was surprised and delighted, Makoto's brownies were delicious as always, and fortunately for Jadeite everyone was too busy talking to remember the movie. He couldn't say he wasn't still upset about the jacket, but his mood had definitely improved.

He was helping Nephrite and Makoto clean up when there was a knock at the door. Nephrite asked him to get it and found a reason to disappear into the kitchen. His motives soon became clear.

Rei faced Jadeite in the doorway, her expression perfectly calm. "I won't run away this time."

"Good. We need to talk," he heard himself say.

"Well, this is a pleasant change." Rei caught herself and tried to sound more amicable. "Let's go out for coffee," she suggested.

"All right. But you're paying."

"Well, aren't you a gentleman?" she said sarcastically as he fell into step beside her.

"You never want me to pay when I offer," he reminded her.

"Why can't we just split the check?"

"Because I forgot my wallet at your place."

She rolled her eyes. "First Shimeba-san's keys, now your wallet? You're so distracted lately."

"Yeah. I am."

Suddenly he stopped walking. They were halfway between Jadeite's house and the always-open cafés and convenience stores closer to the center of town. This particular stretch of road was long and dark, lit only by a few dim street lamps, and even though she knew their neighborhood was safe, Rei had to admit it was a little spooky. "Why are we stopping?" she asked.

"Can we talk here?"

"I'm getting cold," she lied.

"If we go inside, we'll be in public, and you hate making a scene in public." Which really meant that he was depriving her of her usual excuse to end the conversation.

She looked uncomfortable, but nodded. "All right. Let's start with why you think you're better than me."

"I think I'm better than you?" Jadeite scoffed.

"You're full of yourself. You think the only reason I don't fall swooning at your feet is that I'm afraid of my own emotions, and you have to break through my shell and save me somehow."

"That's not true."

"You called me an ice princess!"

"I was angry. Tell me you've never said something you didn't mean when we were fighting. Anyway, I never expected you to swoon at my feet."

She crossed her arms stubbornly. "Well, I never expected you to worship me."

He seized her shoulders with a fierceness that startled her. Her first instinct was to try to pull away, but he held her firm. His face was inches from hers, and though he seemed as angry as before, she detected a hint of something else. Was it her psychic senses kicking in, or had she grown so accustomed to his mannerisms that she read them subconsciously?

"That's just too bad. Because I do worship you, Hino Rei, but don't try to pretend you aren't human." His voice cracked, dropped to a strained whisper. "Not with me."

She hovered for a second, weighing her options, torn between her mind and her heart and all the façades she had built between them. What was the right thing to say?

Nephrite's advice came back to her, a voice of clarity within her tempestuous emotions._ Stop trying to be good enough._

In a moment everything else dropped away. Without a word, she stepped forward and put her arms around him. She felt his surprise, a moment of confusion, and then he let go of everything and embraced her.

"I love you," she said. The words felt strange on her lips, and she realized she'd never said them out loud before. She'd known it for so long that she had come to assume he knew it too. But his sharp breath, the way his arms tightened around her, told her how much he'd needed to hear it.

"Rei," he whispered, with a tenderness that made her heart surge with warmth.

"Say it. Please. I need to hear it too."

"I love you, Rei."

Cliché as it sounded, when their eyes met she felt like they were looking into each other's souls, and for the first time she was not afraid to show him everything, to see everything. There were shadows there, secret fears and wishes, and so much that she had seen before but never really understood.

"We've still got a lot to talk about," she said.

"That we do."

"So… coffee?"

He reached for her hand, and she laced her fingers through his. "Coffee."

~*~

Nephrite strode across the park with the odd feeling that he was walking into a council of war. He had been planning on helping his wife run the flower stand this week (since he was still without a job) but it now seemed there was another purpose for this meeting. Minako and Makoto were seated at a round picnic table, folded hands resting on the tabletop. Between them, a chair was pulled up for him. His first thought was that they must be preparing to chew him out for the incident before the party. But when he reached them, he found that their solemn expressions held no animosity.

"Shall we get started?" he suggested.

"In a minute," Makoto replied. She gestured toward the empty chair, inviting him to sit down, then turned her attention to Minako. There was a strange gleam in the blonde's eye.

"I have some information which may be of interest to you," she announced. From her purse, she produced a manila folder, which she opened to reveal several papers and a black and white photo of a woman. After a moment of puzzlement, he recognized her as the secretary who had turned him away without an interview.

"Her name is Fujisaki Miyaka. Her natural hair color is brown. Her blood type is AB. She hates dogs and loud music, and her favorite food is egg salad, but she can't eat it very often because she's allergic to mayonnaise. She lives with her brother in a moderately expensive apartment in Setagaya."

Nephrite made a mental note to never underestimate Minako's rumor network.

Minako leaned across the table and spoke in rapid, hushed tones. "Here's the fishy part. That brother of hers just happens to be the one who got the job you wanted." She glanced from side to side, as if afraid that someone might be eavesdropping, then went on, "So I did some snooping around. Found out she mentioned to a coworker that her brother would be a shoe-in if only it weren't for this Shimeba Nephrite guy. And then I learned that she told her boss you never showed up for your interview."

Nephrite slumped back in his chair, one hand clapped to his brow. "I was in the way, so she got rid of me." His fist clenched as his frustration turned inward. "Because I gave her an excuse to turn me away."

"This is not your fault," Makoto said emphatically. "Whether or not your being late was a good enough reason to throw you out—and you know what I think about that—she still lied."

Minako cracked her knuckles. "Say the word and I'll go Sailor V on their asses," she offered, and he had little doubt that she would make good on the threat.

Nephrite eyed her curiously, trying to discern her motives. Was this some sort of bribe? A test? Proof that she was capable of planning more than ten minutes in advance?

Perhaps it was a peace offering.

"Forget about it. That guy can have the job," he decided. "I don't want to work with people like that."

Minako graced him with a sunny smile. In the span of a second, the grim investigator vanished and she was once again an effervescent socialite. "Great! In that case, I have a proposition for you."

"Sorry, Aino-san. I love my wife."

A few speechless seconds passed before she realized he was joking. Then she broke into giggles, which turned into hysterical laughter when she caught the look on Makoto's face. Nephrite himself could scarcely believe he was able to find humor in anything at the moment. But for once, Minako's lighthearted attitude lifted his spirits rather than playing counterpoint to his misery.

Seeing that Minako was too breathless to continue, Makoto explained for her. "Mina's network is starting a new home improvement show, and they need a host. They're holding auditions starting next month."

Nephrite's smile faded as he realized what they were getting at. "I don't think so," he said, before they could ask.

"C'mon!" Minako urged. "There's no business like show business! You'd be great." Seeing that he wasn't convinced, she changed her tactic. "Just imagine: a huge garage full of power tools, and they'll pay you to mess around with them all day."

Nephrite looked mildly intrigued, but still skeptical.

It wasn't that he was shy or nervous in front of an audience. In fact, many years ago he had played Algernon in his high school's production of _The Importance of Being Earnest_. (Granted, the fact that his then-crush was the likely choice for Cecily had been a strong motive.) It was one thing to act as a fictional character, but this was different. He cringed at the thought of running a daily gauntlet of hairdressers and makeup artists, then being herded onto a set to feign interest in whatever project the writers had scripted for him—of losing himself behind a public image.

Makoto spoke up before Minako could press him further. "This is a big opportunity, but maybe you should take some time to think about it." Her words were meant for both of them, asking her husband to at least consider the prospect, asking her friend to back off and give him some space to think.

She had always walked the delicate line between him and her friends, Nephrite realized. It must have been hard on her, playing the peacemaker, trying not to take sides, but she had never complained or resented any of them. And meanwhile he'd been bitter because she refused to side with him against Ami.

It was the least he could do now to try and get along with Minako. She was, after all, offering him a chance that few people hoped for and less received: fame and fortune for doing something he enjoyed. Now that he paused to consider it, it was rather flattering that she'd thought of him for the role.

"All right. Tell you what." Minako slid a business card across the table. "If you find yourself bored and looking for something to do, come on down and I'll give you a tour of the studio. If you decide you're interested after all, I can put you in touch with the right people."

Nephrite turned the card over, examining it. After several seconds of contemplation, he slipped it into his pocket and nodded to Minako. It was not acquiescence. But it was acceptance of the truce between them, and just maybe, in spite of all his misgivings, a willingness to give her crazy idea a chance.

"I'll think about it."

~*~

Her bags were packed. Her tickets were printed. Her lecture-on-tape had been delivered to her class. Now Ami stood outside the airport, and all that was left was the hardest thing of all: saying goodbye. She hugged each of her friends, nodding at Rei and Minako's well-wishing and last minute advice. Makoto held on the longest, and she had no advice, only an affectionate, "Go get 'em, Tiger." That was what she'd needed most. Ami gave her hand a final squeeze, drawing strength for the long months ahead.

She glanced back at the road. "I wonder where Zoisite is…"

"He and Kunzite-kun went to run some urgent errand this morning," Minako said. "That's all he'd tell me."

"I… see," Ami said, trying to hide her pained expression. "Well, I'm sure he'll get here soon. Or if not, he'll call me later."

"You know Zoisite. He's always late," Rei pointed out.

"That he is," Ami agreed, but she still looked troubled.

Minako nudged Makoto. "I don't believe that Zoi-chan's just late. He's up to something," she whispered.

"Oh? What's the latest news from the proverbial grapevine?"

"Nothing. This is just a hunch."

~*~

"Well," said Jadeite, staring at the unmarked DVD that sat on their coffee table. It shone up at them with a pretty, rainbow-hued gleam that belied its scandalous content.

"Well," said Nephrite, pretending not to be thinking the same thing Jadeite was thinking.

"Since I went to the trouble of ripping it…" Jadeite began.

"I suppose we may as well watch it," Nephrite agreed.

Jadeite sprang up all too eagerly and dropped it into the player. "What time does Makoto-san get home?" he asked as an afterthought.

"She went with Mizuno-san to the airport, so she won't be back until late."

"Plenty of time. To educate ourselves, I mean."

"It is an artistic masterpiece, after all."

The DVD whirred in the player as the two men hunched anxiously on the couch. But the image that appeared on the screen was not at all what they expected to see. A familiar face framed by short blue-black hair greeted them politely, apologized for having to deliver the lesson this way due to her trip to Europe, and promptly launched into an explanation of the phenomenon of pareidolia.

"What the…? This is Mizuno-san's lecture."

Jadeite remembered something. "At the coin laundry, I ran into her. Literally, I mean. We dropped everything, including the discs…"

They looked at each other. "Oh. Shit."

~*~

Ami was in line to check her bags when she got a call from her boss at the university. She answered with a furrowed brow, wondering what they needed already. "Hello, Doctor Ueda. Are you well?"

"Unbelievable!" the woman on the other end of the line exploded, making her jump. "Of all people, I never expected you to pull a stunt like this!"

"I… I beg your pardon?" Ami stammered. Dr. Ueda had a reputation for being opinionated and moody, but Ami had never heard her completely lose it like this.

"Don't try that innocent act on me," the irate woman snapped.

"Would you mind telling me what exactly I've done?"

"You tried to show a pornographic movie to your lecture class! To students who paid to receive a medical education!"

Ami's jaw dropped. "What?"

"You have severely damaged the credibility of this university, robbed the students of valuable learning time, not to mention the grave insult you have dealt to every self-respecting woman in this organization…"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Ami protested. Now at least she understood why Dr. Ueda was so angry. The older woman was a long-time crusader for "standards of decency" (or as her detractors put it, censorship) in the entertainment industry, citing the media's subconscious effects on youth—which by her reckoning included everyone under the age of 30. But where had she gotten the idea that Ami's lecture was anything more than an innocent dissertation on neurological processes?

"What, are you trying to tell me that someone else sneaked the disc into your class, and wrote your name on it, in your handwriting?" Dr. Ueda's voice rose to a shrill crescendo. "As if it's not enough that you support this crass filth that objectifies women, now you try to lie to me? I am disgusted. Miss Mizuno, you're fired."

Ami swayed, feeling nauseous as the words echoed in her ears. Her mouth moved, trying to form some reply, but words failed her.

"And you can forget about that trip to Europe when the other professors find out about this travesty. Good day!" And with that, Dr. Ueda hung up.

Ami collapsed in a dead faint.

~*~

Spread out on a carpet of black velvet, a menagerie of jewels sparkled under the myriad lights of Aoyama shopping district, scattering tiny rainbows over the face of the young man peering into the display case. Emerald eyes no less exquisite than the finest of the gems made a meticulous evaluation of each piece before passing on to the next. At length, he shook his head in disappointment and straightened to ease his sore back.

"Zoisite," Kunzite sighed patiently. "Why did you wait until the last possible moment to buy the ring?"

"Because you've been so busy writing your thesis paper," Zoisite said, moving on to the next case. "I need your input. This ring has to be perfect, and, well, sometimes I trust your opinion more than mine."

"I am flattered," said Kunzite with all sincerity, "but this isn't a choice I can make for you."

"Two heads are better than one," Zoisite insisted. "You are going to be my best man, after all. Assuming she says yes. Do you think she'll say yes?" His eyes pleaded with Kunzite to tell him what he wanted to hear.

Kunzite paused, searching for the most encouraging answer he could give without putting words in Ami's mouth. "I'd say yes, if I were in her shoes."

Zoisite gave him a very curious look.

Kunzite coughed, flustered. "I, that is… that came out wrong."

Zoisite paused to examine a sleek band of white gold. It was set with a single brilliant diamond flanked by a pair of sapphires. After a moment of critical examination, he nodded in approval. "Elegant, modern, and not too big so it won't get in the way of her work. What do you think?"

"It's well-crafted," Kunzite said, trying to be objective.

Zoisite frowned and began pacing. "But I don't know if I'd call it perfect…"

"T-minus 30 minutes," Kunzite reminded him, but the younger man was too engrossed in his deliberation to hear.

~*~

From the safety of the car with its mostly-soundproof windows, Makoto watched Ami's plane take off. She smiled wistfully, thinking of how much Ami would enjoy the trip to distract herself from the overwhelming ache of how much they would miss her.

She frowned as Minako and Rei came running across the parking lot, looking distressed. Rei pounded on the window until she rolled it down a crack.

"It's Ami," Rei said urgently. "She collapsed in the baggage check line."

In an instant Makoto shot out of the car, all fears shoved aside. "What happened to her?" she demanded.

"We aren't sure. She's still unconscious, but there doesn't seem to be anything physically wrong with her. She might've just had a big shock," Minako explained as they started back into the airport at a brisk pace.

"Do you think somebody flashed her?" Rei theorized.

Minako and Makoto exchanged looks. "That would probably knock her out…"

Makoto shook her head and increased her pace, though she sensed the others were struggling to keep up. Even if she didn't know what was wrong, she was going to be at Ami's side when she woke up.


	5. Chapter 5

The room slowly came into focus, and the first thing Ami saw was a pair of concerned green eyes.

"Mako-chan? Where am I?"

"You're in an employee lounge at the airport," Makoto told her gently. "You collapsed right before you got on the plane. They let us bring you in here so you could lie down for a while."

Now that she knew Ami was all right, Minako turned her attention to the mini-fridge that sat in the corner. "Hey, there are nachos in here! You think they'd mind if—"

"Mina!"

"Aww, you're no fun, Rei-chan."

Ami groaned and sat up, her memory returning. "That's right. I… I was fired."

Her friends stared in disbelief. "You? How? Why?"

"I don't know. Dr. Ueda called and accused me of trying to show a dirty movie to my class."

"Well, did you?" Minako asked. Rei kicked her and she yelped. "What, I was just asking!"

"I don't understand. It seems almost unreal," Ami murmured, rubbing her head.

Two seconds later, Nephrite and Jadeite burst into the room. "Mizuno-san! You've got the wrong DVD!"

Ami blinked several times, then suddenly tensed as everything fell into place. "You two!" she cried indignantly.

"It was an accident!" Jadeite protested.

"I got fired!"

Nephrite and Jadeite's reactions were as shocked as the others' had been. "But… it wasn't your fault," Jadeite stammered.

Ami clutched at her hair. "She didn't give me a chance to explain. Oh, what am I going to do?" she moaned. She tried to calm herself with a deep breath. "Maybe if the three of us go down to the university and talk to her, I can beg for mercy. Maybe she won't fire me."

"And then what?" Nephrite asked with righteous indignation. "Wait until she gives you the axe for something else equally petty and stupid? Why would you want to work for a witch like her anyway? I'm you, I call the doctor in Europe and explain to him that my boss is a narrow-minded cretin who misunderstood a classic and culturally important film which is clearly satirizing the confused Thanatos instincts of a generation who were about to be sent off to their deaths by an imperialist government. And that I hope he'll be more of a progressive thinker than that if he wants the honor of my presence at the lecture series."

Ami frowned thoughtfully. "I never looked at it that way before." After a minute or so of turning the idea over in her mind, she lifted her head with renewed determination. A new thought was coming to her, as liberating as it was frightening: she had nothing left to lose. "I think… Maybe I won't use those exact words, but I think I'll do that. Thank you, Nephrite."

With that short phrase, he felt as if a great weight were lifted, for contained within was not only Ami's gratitude, but her acknowledgement, and that long-sought absolution that made him more than just Makoto's husband. It made him one of them.

"Pure genius, man. Pure. Genius," Jadeite said under his breath. He frowned and added, "I just hope it doesn't get her in even worse trouble with the other professors."

"Are you kidding?" Nephrite whispered back. "Those liberal intellectual types in Europe will love that crap."

"Ami!" a breathless voice called. Zoisite stumbled up to them, panting hard. Kunzite followed him at a more dignified pace.

"I'm so glad you haven't left yet!" Zoisite exclaimed.

"She would've been on a plane to Liechtenstein by now if she hadn't passed out," Rei informed him pointedly.

Zoisite's eyes widened. "Oh my goodness! You fainted? Are you ill?" In a flash he was at her side, putting a hand to her forehead as if to take her temperature.

She pushed his arm away. "I'm fine now, really."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

He beamed. "Great! In that case… there's something I want to talk to you about." He knelt beside her and cradled one of her hands between his. Ami's cheeks reddened and she wobbled. For a second, the others worried she might faint again.

Zoisite glanced at the rest of the group. "Alone, if I may?"

Kunzite nodded and clapped a hand on Zoisite's shoulder. "Good luck," he whispered, before he and Makoto herded their gawking friends out of the room.

~*~

It was not long before the door opened again.

"Everyone, we have an announcement to make," Zoisite proclaimed.

Minako literally leaped into the air, unable to contain her excitement. "You guys are getting married!" she squealed, loud enough for the whole terminal to hear.

"Yes we are!" Zoisite declared, equally exuberant (if a little better at controlling his volume.)

"How did you guess?" Ami asked.

Makoto felt her eyes grow misty as she swept her friend up in a bear hug. "Oh Ami-chan, I'm so happy for you!"

Minako checked her wristwatch with an exaggerated flourish. "Annnd it has been ten months, seven days, and three hours since the betting commenced… with a guess of nine months, the winner is Mako-chan! Pay up, everybody!"

"You were betting on us?" Ami and Zoisite exclaimed, with identical annoyed expressions.

"Let's just say we had faith in you," Kunzite rationalized. "But apparently I had a little too much faith. I said six months."

"Et tu, Kunzite?"

Makoto laughed. "Hold on, now," she said with a wink at Rei. "I don't think I can accept this money. You see… word has it that Ami-chan's not the only one getting hitched."

Seven pairs of eyes followed her gaze to stare at Rei, who shyly drew her left hand out of her pocket to reveal a delicate silver engagement ring. The group let out gasps of mixed delight and disbelief—a little more of the latter. It wasn't that they thought the two were incompatible, but after nearly five years of on-again-off-again, to see them actually make a commitment was astonishing.

"What? When?" Nephrite demanded, looking at them as if they were possessed.

"Last night," said Rei. "And largely thanks to you, I might add."

He blinked owlishly, trying to get used to the idea. Beside him, Zoisite and Kunzite were doing the same.

"Like a bolt of lightning," Makoto marveled, with a knowing smile at Minako. The self-proclaimed Love Expert nodded in agreement, looking smug at how accurate her predictions had proven.

Jadeite was positively glowing. "And that's not all," he told them. "She was the one who asked me."

Rei shrugged. "I got tired of waiting, and you're too dense to take a hint."

If their friends hadn't been completely shocked before, they were now. It was the one time in his life that Jadeite had seen Kunzite slack-jawed and bug-eyed, and he savored that image more than anything. Another round of hugs and back-slapping and congratulations followed.

"I believe," said Makoto when they had calmed down a little, "that this is clear evidence that Hell has frozen over, which would make Rei-chan the winner."

Jadeite pretended to be affronted while the others laughed.

Minako pressed the money into Makoto's palm. "Keep it, Mako-chan. You'll need it more than anyone else, when the baby comes." Makoto frantically motioned for her to be quiet, but it was too late.

Nephrite blanched. "What? B-baby?!"

Makoto exhaled sharply. "Darn it, Minako! I haven't told him yet!"

"I'm sorry!" she wailed, ducking behind her arms in feigned embarrassment (and trying to hide her huge smile.) "It just kind of slipped out!"

"Way to steal our thunder, guys. Thanks," Zoisite muttered under his breath. Ami, for her part, looked glad to have the spotlight off of them as everyone gathered around the two soon-to-be parents.

Minako and Rei swarmed Makoto, their words tumbling over one another. "About two months along… Yes, Neph is the father, very funny… They think it's a boy, though they aren't sure yet," Makoto was saying in response to their steady stream of questions.

Jadeite winked at her. "Well, when he gets to be about two, I have a jacket for him."

~*~

Ten minutes later, the eight of them plus Artemis were squeezed into a plastic booth at the Crown Arcade. Zoisite was in a celebratory mood and bought drinks for the whole restaurant (which at this late hour consisted only of themselves, a couple of college kids, and an aging Taoist priest who turned down the offer.) Motoki brought them a plate of hot wings, exchanged gossip, and ooh-ed and ah-ed over Ami and Rei's rings for a while until he had to leave to serve another customer. Makoto had decided to keep mum about the baby for the moment, because when Motoki and Unazuki found out there was no way they were going to get any work done for the rest of the night.

"And to think," Ami mused as they ate. "I would have missed all of this if I hadn't gotten fired."

Jadeite nudged her playfully. "Which wouldn't have happened if we hadn't gotten you in trouble by showing a porn flick to your class." Ami winced, the wounds of that embarrassment still fresh, but she supposed he was right.

"Which wouldn't have happened if we hadn't been at the laundry to get the DVDs mixed up," Nephrite pointed out. "And it's not porn, it's an erotic historical drama," he added, attempting unsuccessfully to mock Jadeite's voice.

"One argument at a time," Jadeite shot back.

Makoto laughed, finding it all rather funny in hindsight. "And that wouldn't have happened if Neph hadn't dropped a pizza on Jadeite-kun's jacket."

"Or if Ami-chan hadn't spilled ink all over her clothes," Rei added.

"Which I wouldn't have, if not for that silly marker," Ami realized. She raised her glass. "To serendipity," she toasted.

"To the whimsy of fate," Minako joined in.

"And the certainty of true love," Artemis added. Minako rolled her eyes at the corny comment and lifted his glass for him.

"To old friends and new," said Makoto.

"To promises made," said Rei.

"To promises kept," said Kunzite.

"To the future!" said Zoisite.

"To drinking our damn beer already," was Jadeite's input.

Nephrite grinned and clinked his glass against theirs. "To a camaraderie of errors."

~End~

AN: If you're wondering where Luna has been all story, the official explanation is that she went with Usagi and Mamoru on their honeymoon to make sure they were safe. I might write a companion fic about that in the future…

Thanks for reading!


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